EU foreign ministers today (17 January) decided to speed up the deployment of military trainers to Mali and said that they will find money to support an African military force formed by the United Nations to recapture northern Mali from Islamist rebels.

They were joined at an emergency meeting in Brussels by Mali’s foreign minister, Tieman Coulibaly. He said that the Islamist rebels, who last week broke a nine-month ceasefire to launch a southward offensive, posed a “global threat” and a “genuine threat to civilisation”.

Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister of France, which has won the UN’s blessing for its decision to send in bombers and troops to stop the Islamist offensive, underlined the scale of the threat, saying that “all European countries are threatened by terrorism”.

The UK, Germany, Spain, Belgium and Denmark have all offered logistical support to France’s military operation.

Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said that a number of EU member states today made clear that “they were willing to help France in any way”, but neither she nor individual foreign ministers indicated that the EU intends to expand the role it accepted in a plan approved by the UN in December, which was limited to training, financial and logistical support for Mali and for the African military intervention force.

Ashton indicated that she sees the EU’s role as being behind the frontline. “France has reacted in exactly the right way,” she said. “The EU’s role is to come and support France in its operations.”

The measures agreed today by the EU are, however, specifically in support of the Malian army and the UN-mandated African intervention force, which will have 3,300 troops.

The African military mission was originally expected to be ready to launch attacks on the rebels in September or October, but African countries have in recent days promised to send troops to Mali immediately. France is raising the number of its troops in the country to 2,500.

West African leaders will discuss the crisis in Mali on Saturday (19 January).

The EU’s foreign ministers did not state how much money they are willing to give to support the African force, instead calling for an international donor conference to be called to raise funds for the force.

Military trainers from the EU should be in Mali by mid-February “at the latest”, the ministers agreed. The mission, which had not been formally agreed until today, will consist of 200 trainers and around 250 support staff and guards, and will be led by a French brigadier general, François Lecointre. The mission’s mandate will be to “train and advise the Malian forces on command and control, logistics, human resources as well as on international humanitarian law, the protection of civilians and human rights”.

The cost to the EU budget of the 15-month misson is expected to be €12.3 million over its duration, equivalent to €820,000 per month. Member states will directly cover the salaries of their nationals, as well as the costs of their deployment (including flights and equipment).

The ministers also said that they are prepared to increase aid for the hundreds of thousands of refugees displaced first by a Tuareg rebellion, then by Islamist rebels and now by the Islamists’ southward offensive. The UN said on Tuesday (15 January) that nearly 150,000 people have fled Mali because of the conflict, while another 230,000 are internally displaced. Over the past week, it says that thousands have crossed into Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The European Commission last year provided €73m in aid from the EU’s budget, and has already allocated €20m for this year.

Some financial support earmarked for Mali, however, has remained on EU bank accounts since a coup last March prompted the EU to suspend its development aid. At today’s meeting, the foreign ministers said that the release of the €230m in development funds depends on the government implementing a roadmap for “the restoration of democracy and constitutional order”, but said that money would be available immediately its conditions are met.

Ashton also announced today that she will appoint a special envoy to the Sahel region, which includes Mali and countries bordering the Sahara desert. The move reflects concern that Mali’s unrest could exacerbate the dangers posed other Islamist groups in the region.